Rapperswil (CH), Schloss Rapperswil
Yesterday I got lost in the beauty of Swiss lakes and ships...mathias and I had a late flight and decided to take the afternoon off and the boat from Rapperswil back to Zürich all across the Lake Zurich...: )
But I should probably start one year ago in Ittingen when we first met Philipp Bachofner and Brita Ostertag through our dear friend and extraordinary pianist Oliver Schnyder who had invited us to play our „Winter Journey“ in Ittingen. Philipp and Brita, both of them wonderful flute players themselves (mathias just wrote a piece for them!), came to our concert and decided right then and there to invite us to play within their concert series at Schloss Rapperswil. What a blessing to play at this incredible place! Rapperswil is a charming old town right by the lake and it‘s castle looks like it‘s taken straight from a fairytale. Walking the steps up to it immediately takes you to another time and place… and „once upon a time“ suddenly seems very much like the „Here and Now“ : )! The concert hall located in the tower of the castle has an incredible view of the lake and an excellent acoustic, so we could aaalmost play unplugged...the rhythm section sounded rich and warm and Mr T - Thomas Egger found the right metering between acoustic and amplified fitting me right into the sound of the band...and during our set we really got into the acoustics of the room and enjoyed every second of playing. Mario Rom was our soloist on trumpet and you know how we feel about Mario...every set with him is special and he‘s telling a different story with every solo. You always wanna hear more…!Hans arrived with Thomas by car straight from his Burghausen late night marathon!!! with Don Menza and was laying his unique warm sound and true jazz spirits underneath our Schumann. Ingrid‘s colourful and imaginativ rhythms were flowing through every song and every corner of the room. And last but not least mathias had one of his favourite concert nights,I think! His harmonic adventures had found the perfect acoustic conditions and he enjoyed every second. And so did I!!! Especially the ballads… especially „Ich will meine Seele tauchen“ : )…What a wonderful audience opening their hearts and ears to our Schumann Song Book. Thank you to everyone who came out that night!!! We all went out for dinner after the concert and I had great pizzaaa al forno or „fizza al p….“ ; )! Thank you Oliver for coming all the way to listen to us and for your trust and support along the way!!!
The next morning mathias had to get up early as they had the rehearsal of the piece he wrote for two alto flutes and piano with Philipp & Brita! I joined them later, finding my way from Rapperswil back to Zürich and to the old villa of Richi!!!I don‘t think it is possibile to describe this villa with the most amazing view you can imagine and FIVE grand pianos!!!At Richis home musicians sleep, practice and play night and day, it is a place full of music and I hope to be back at this place once more! From Fazil Say to Martha Argerich!!!They all been there one time or another...can you imagine!!!
Once more I would like to say thank you to Philipp and Brita for making this whole experience possible, for their hospitality and the best chocolate cake!
Even if I‘ve never dreamed of being in a newspaper riddle : ) it sure feels like a dream come true!
Yours Lia
P.S.: I promised mathias to share his birthday present from the whole band : ) - spring collection made it easy for him to choose : )! One a two a shoe for youuu!
